Minutemen return to NM border.
They're baaaaaaaack.
Well, not quite yet. But it's only a matter of days before the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps (MCDC) returns to southern New Mexico to resume monitoring illegal immigrants crossing the Mexican border.
Truth be told, they never really left. According to MCDC-New Mexico Director Bob Wright, the group has conducted frequent weekend maneuvers and at least one monthlong deployment since its first major operation last October [Cover story, Oct. 12, 2005:
]. But, Wright says, the next monthlong MCDC deployment in New Mexico-which begins Oct. 1-will be the most significant to date.
"This is a very important deployment because we're coming up on an election," Wright says. "It's very important to make sure these politicians understand that our determination hasn't
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wavered and the American people's determination to see our borders secured has not wavered."
A lot has happened since last October. In the last year, the MCDC has expanded both its membership and its operations, while the federal government has since sent the National Guard to patrol the border and Congress has approved the construction of a fence along the southern border of New Mexico. The intense media glare that began when the original Minuteman Project was launched in Arizona in April 2005 has waned considerably. But the group believes its influence has not.
"Everything you see on the immigration front today is a direct result of the efforts of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps," Wright says. "We have made this a political issue and taken it to the halls of Congress and to the border. We have illustrated this problem and provided solutions in a way that the American people have embraced."
Peter Simonson, executive director of ACLU-New Mexico, agrees that the MCDC cause has strengthened over the last year, but questions whether Minutemen are a direct catalyst for the sea change.
"In general, they seem to have been successful," Simonson admits. "But it's hard to say whether they've been successful or if they've just ridden the coattails of a phenomenon that was going to take place regardless of the Minutemen."
Simonson says the increased focus on immigration reform could also be credited as much to broad national concerns of border security and illegal immigration as it can to the specific actions of the MCDC.
"These are the same kind of people that were boarding themselves up in shacks in Montana and shooting it out with the federal authorities," Simonson says. "Back then they were called 'wackos' and now they're hailed as 'patriots' because they've struck a chord with a general public concern about immigration."
Last October, the ACLU sent a team of "legal observers" to the border in order to monitor MCDC activities. Simonson says it's unlikely a second ACLU team will be sent this time around.
"I'm not inclined to put the energy into doing any sort of legal observing," Simonson says. "I think they already get much more attention than they deserve, given what a ragtag bunch they actually are."
Wright says the National Guard deployment is a direct result of that attention and a significant victory for the MCDC, though he says more troops are needed to play an active enforcement role on the border.
"Even this pathetic little National Guard deployment that they're doing now has had a profound effect on the border," Wright says. "I think that absolutely validates our contention that we can secure this border and we can do it with forces that already exist."
MCDC members have long acknowledged that the group's controversial border operations are less about aiding in the apprehension of illegal immigrants than they are about calling attention to the issue. Bill Norris, director of MCDC-NM's southern chapter, admits that the media fervor has largely subsided but says the declining media interest hasn't resulted in declining membership. In fact, Norris says the MCDC ranks have grown exponentially in the last year on a national level in general and in New Mexico in particular.
"Granted, we're not front-page news on a daily basis anymore," Norris says. "But I think the nation knows who we are and I think they know that we're a legitimate organization. We're not out for blood or anything; we simply want our government to do what they're supposed to do."
Besides, Wright points out, the MCDC has made its most significant strides away from the cameras and notebooks. In recent weeks, three Republican candidates for Congress won their respective primary elections with help from the Minuteman Political Action Committee. The PAC contributed at least $100,000 to winning candidates in Arizona (Randy Graf), Colorado (Doug Lamborn) and Michigan (Tim Walberg), all of whom are sympathetic to the Minuteman cause.
"It's just a reaffirmation that what the Minutemen are trying to achieve is what America wants achieved," Wright says of the primary election victories. "We tried talking, but this language developing in the primary elections is a language that elected officials understand: We want this done, and if you don't do it you'll lose your job."
It's also a language that MCDC critics like Simonson can respect.
"Frankly, I'd much prefer that their activism takes that form," Simonson says. "If they want to have an impact on immigration policy, they should do it by lobbying their congressional delegates and voting for candidates who support their policies, not by mimicking the border patrol."
For now at least, the MCDC has no plans to stop its monitoring of the border. In fact, Wright says he expects a large contingent to patrol in New Mexico during October as one of seven states conducting operations during the month.
"As this issue progresses, we'll begin to move more and more into the political arena," Wright says. "But we will continue our border presence until such time as the border is secure. The Minutemen will continue to hold that line until the American people convince this government that it's their job to do it."
